


Insomnia for Dummies

by tartan_suitcase (miss_whimsy)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Fluff, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3842683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_whimsy/pseuds/tartan_suitcase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tony can't sleep. Steve can't sleep. They talk instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Insomnia for Dummies

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as ever to [skywardsmiles](http://archiveofourown.org/users/skywardsmiles) for the beta. All mistakes are my own.

It was a very comfortable bed, Tony would give Barton that one. Not really big enough for him and Steve, but then Steve tended to make any space Tony was in shrink three sizes. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Howard had planned it that way.

“Can’t sleep?” Steve murmured and Tony turned his attention from the ceiling to the side of Steve’s face.

“Kind of hard to, don’t you think?”

They'd both been utterly exhausted upon falling onto the bed and neither particularly willing to get back up and close the curtains. The moonlight streaming through the window was shining around Steve like a halo. Even his profile was beautiful, damn him.

Steve's lips quirked up slightly. “I can sleep anywhere.”

“Then why aren’t you?” Tony asked, thinking about the time, not too long ago when Steve had caught Tony asleep, standing up, in the lab.

“You’re not sleeping,” Steve said. “A good leader…”

“Are you kidding me?” Tony interrupted. “You won’t sleep until I sleep? You realize how ridiculous that is, right?”

Steve’s ridiculously beautiful profile turned to face Tony. “Why?”

“Well for one thing,” Tony said, “we’re not exactly anticipating attack here. Any would-be assassin has to go through Bruce, Natasha and a family of Bartons before they get to us.”

“That’s true,” Steve said with a grin. “Can you believe it?”

“That someone willingly procreated with Clint? Not really.”

Steve huffed out a laugh and Tony awarded himself a point.

“So, why aren’t you sleeping?” Steve asked, still smiling.

“Are you happy?” Tony asked suddenly, surprising them both, and immediately regretted it.

Steve blinked. “That’s a loaded question,” he said. “I’m not unhappy.”

“Right,” Tony said quickly. “I’m sure it would help if we weren’t trapped here, with killer robots loose in the world. Sorry, again.”

Steve nodded. “Killer robots I could do without. But honestly, I like this. I was made for this.”

“Farm work?”

“Saving the world,” Steve said, nudging Tony’s arm with his elbow.

“I’m not,” Tony said, nudging back. “Happy I mean." He turned his gaze back to the ceiling so he didn't have to see Steve's reaction. He honestly didn't know why he was still talking. He couldn't seem to stop. "I could count the number of times I’ve been genuinely happy on one hand.”

And there it was. Tony knew that if he looked now, Steve would be frowning. He sighed.

Steve shifted onto his side. “Why not?”

“Well,” Tony said, holding up his hand and counting off on his fingers, “One, killer robot.”

Steve nodded sagely. “Understandable.”

“Two,” Tony continued, “I think Pepper and I have reached the end of the line.”

The silence that followed seemed to last an eternity.

“Tony…”’

“No,” Tony shushed him. “Three…” He opened his mouth to continue but the words wouldn’t come.

“I think those two are enough for now,” Steve murmured. “Turn over.”

Smirking, Tony slowly turned his face towards Steve, and then raised his eyebrow. 

“On your side,” Steve sighed, rolling his eyes. “This bed isn’t exactly huge.”

“That was number three,” Tony muttered, rolling over onto his side and finding himself nose to nose with Steve. “Yeah, because this is better.” 

“Pepper?” Steve prompted.

“Nothing official,” Tony sighed. “I just have a feeling.”

“But you love each other,” Steve pressed.

“Come on, Cap,” Tony said with a half-hearted laugh. “You know as well as I do that love isn’t always enough.”

“So you’re giving up?”

“Calling time,” Tony corrected. “Or at least Pepper will. After this little adventure.”

Steve nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Tony told him. “You have enough on your mind.”

“You can talk to me,” Steve assured him. “If you need to. About anything.”

“You gonna tell me what the Maximoff kid made you see?”

It was Steve’s turn to raise an incriminating eyebrow. “Are you?”

“Touche,” Tony murmured. “And no. Nuh uh. No way.”

Steve smiled a little wearily. “Tony…”

“Does it matter?” Tony sighed. “Is there anything I could say to make it better?”

“It’s not your fault.”

Tony snorted.

Steve tried to hide a smile. “It’s not entirely your fault.” 

“That’s better,” Tony laughed.

“You think you can sleep now?”

Tony doubted he would sleep until Ultron was destroyed, but if the only way Steve would sleep was if Tony did...

"Sure thing, Cap."

He rolled over onto his other side, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

"Night, Tony."

"Night, Steve."


End file.
